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Thursday, 6 November 2014

From the erotic remains of Khajuraho!

What comes to mind like a film flash are vivid
images of stone carved male and female deities, lost in passionate hunger for
sex, striking various poses of love making and ready to take us under their esteemed
tutelage.

"Then Almitra spoke
again and said, 'And what of Marriage, master?'And he answered saying:You were born together, and together you shall
be forevermore.You shall be together when white wings of death
scatter your days.Aye, you shall be together even in the silent
memory of God.But let there be spaces in your togetherness,And let the winds of the heavens dance between
you." – Khalil Gibran

Khajuraho
was a much awaited destination for us to visit and what better a day than our
10th wedding anniversary! So we packed our slimy luggage and boarded the train
to Khajuraho to celebrate a decade of nuptial bliss and satisfy our
greed to explore the places of historical and archeological significance.

It was six in the morning when our train gushed
in at the famous Khajuraho’s railway
platform. We’d heard of the town as one of the most solicited tourist places in
India which driveled our expectation to find a big crowd of people but lo and
behold! To our amazement, only six passengers dropped at the platform which was
nearly empty. As far as we could see was a blanket of fog and no one, not even
a single stray dog around. For a moment I looked at my husband’s face and got a
ditto zapped expression in return, ‘Did we drop down at the wrong place?’

Boarding an auto rickshaw we moved towards our
stay arranged at a cottage booked from Madhya Pradesh Tourism. It was a cosy
little private cottage away from the hustle bustle of main town, also pet to
white rats, rabbits and peacocks.

Our cosy cottage at Khajuraho

The Hotel's reception had a vintage village look

Within few hours, we set our foot to the remains
of the lofty temples of
sculptural grace and architectural splendor. The
Khajuraho Temples were built by the Chandella rulers between AD
900 and 1130, and it is presumed that every Chandella ruler built at
least one temple in his lifetime. Complex monuments of
the site were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 for its
‘outstanding universal value’ and ‘human creative genius’. Despite the tourist
traffic,Khajuraho preserves the ambience of a village
and at the same time offers the most modern facilities to the visitor.The local tradition lists eighty-five temples out of which
only twenty-five are standing examples scattered
over an area of about 9 square miles. So we decided to take five in a day to
manage complete site visit within the little time we had in hand.

Our first was the Kandariya Mahadeva
temple of Lord Shiva on the western side of the site, also the most
popular and important one. The temple measures about 30 metres in length and 20 metres
in width. The lofty temple shikhara rises 35.3 metres in length.

Since it would not
be the least possible to put in words what we experience of the splendor and vastness
of Khajuraho, given below is points worth mentioning from the site
remains.

Like the tiny
nuances of the temple that took us by awe. Look at this map of a temple carved
on the ground by artisans and the writing of architects which are still clearly
legible.

Many carvings on the
temple wall show unnatural sex behavior either prevalent in the society those
days or intending to be tutorial to one. Threesome, foursome, animal sex and
mutual masturbation are clearly (and in some ways sickening too) boisterously
displayed.

It makes us wonder why when a temple which was supposed to be a
forbidden place for lustful thinking, been adorned like a book of sex-making on
most of the walls. Was the Golden era too forward an era of thinkers? Was
talking of sex within the premise of God and religion not a taboo then? Why was
unnatural sex so endorsed? What was about ‘tantra vidya’ involvement in
love making between kings and queens as in many places the role of a ‘tantrik’
and ‘yogini’ helping couples for the sexual acts prominently exposed.

Tantrik: The one with a beard and a carved headgear

This beautiful
statue of Shakuntala is like some marvel of a rock. Here she’s shown taking
out a thorn from her feet. One look at her expressions would make you feel the
connect the sculpture must have made with the character at the time of
rendering his job with a spindle. Another is one fin which she tries to arrange her dress after it is disheveled by some love making act.

The beauty of Khajuraho
sculptures lies in the endearing manner in which expressions of characters have
been captured. For example, in the picture below this surasundari
(beautiful lady) looks at her image in the mirror, finds a gray hair and sulks.
Now who’d think of depicting such an emotion that on a temple wall!!!

Here’s the sculpture
of a Chandella queen putting surma (kohl) in her eyes.

Statue of Varah is the heaviest
piece of rock in the site, a colossal monolithic image of the boar
incarnation of Vishnu. The sculpture is carved with 675 miniature figures in twelve neatly carved rows on its body.

Varah: The boar incarnation of Vishnu at Varah temple, Kahjuraho

On the open terrace of the temple
lies an important sculpture ofShardula (a warrior and a lion), a favorite
theme inChandella time.

The Eastern temples are though lesser known but
just as important because they reflect a very different side of Khajuraho.
The Brahma Temple is actually dedicated toVishnu.There is also a stark difference
between this and the typical western group temples, devoid of the ornate
carvings, sensuous sculptures and elaborate architectures. Instead, it is a
simple structure and is made of granite along with a pyramidal spire made of
sandstone.

Evenings at Khajuraho turns into some
romantic fiesta. Street side restaurant begin to shine with folk decoration,
fairy lights and candle-lit dinning spaces. Display of clay sculptures and
paintings adorn the market. Not to be missed is the two hours cultural
programme full of folk dances, martial arts and songs organized by Madhya
Pradesh Tourism in the town’s only auditorium.

M.P. Toursim Cultural Programme

One of the most memorable and heartwarming trips
that I took with my soulmate. Discussing, researching, wandering through the
remains from the past, mesmerized by sculpture art and debating over lustful
interpretation of love the trip was a complete rejuvenation. We winded out trip
with a light and sound show in the voice of Mr. Amitabh Bachchan at the Kandariya
Mahadev underneath the moonlit sky.

Courtesy: india.travelsphoto.com

As the tale echoed in the remains of Khajuraho
walls, it forced us to bow down before the architectural grace and say, “Long
live creativity”._________________________________________________________This was about my soulful experience from the remains of an ancient erotic site? So what allures you about Khajuraho and the mystique behind it the most? Do let know.

You are so right when you talk about the right wingers. I really can't say how and why do they ever need to defend an already pervasive and open culture like ours? Recently, I got to see a movie "Rang Rasiya" based on the life of Raja Ravi Varma, the painter, who gave faces to figurines of numerous Gods and Goddess millions of us worship. His genius art (specially the ones inspired from Khajuraho works) was not only condemned by right wingers but was even challenged in the court of law. Sadly, years later, the battle between freedom to express and policing still exist in the same society.

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